"Prince Duan's heir?"

The astonishment was plain on Ning Chen's face.

What kind of move was this from the Xuan Emperor?

He had a son of his own and no use for him, and gave the Xiliang command to Prince Duan's son instead?

Ning Chen said, not following, "Has His Majesty forgotten Prince Cheng's heir? He joined Prince Rui in rebellion, and not long ago."

"You were at the western frontier all that time, and it was hard enough work building any standing with the men... And now he pulls you back out of nowhere. What's His Majesty thinking?"

The Fourth Prince spread both hands and said, resigned to it, "I don't know either. I've been out with the armies for years, and my Father Emperor and I are more apart than together. I can't get at what he is thinking... and on top of that, an emperor's heart is beyond knowing." (TL Note: 帝心難測 — "the emperor's heart cannot be sounded," a set phrase for the impossibility of knowing what a sovereign intends.)

Ning Chen's brows drew together a little. He could not shake the feeling that there was something not quite right about His Majesty.

Prince Fu and Prince Rui had risen one after the other.

Prince Duan's heir would be three years in mourning and then come into Prince Duan's princedom, and he had a command in his hands too. Wasn't he afraid that Prince Duan's heir would rise in his turn when the time came? (TL Note: 守孝三年 — a son keeps mourning for his father for three years, withdrawing from office and from pleasure; only then does he take up the inheritance.)

The Xuan Emperor had caution to spare and too little enterprise... but he knew men and used them well, and he was no fool.

This was not the kind of thing he would do.

The Fourth Prince let out a sigh. "This is such a nuisance."

"The truth is there's nothing so bad about being a prince with nothing to do, but my Father Emperor wants me to serve at his knee, and…